Cartoon Competition for The Paleo Approach!

Calling all cartoonists! And all artists, graphics designers, drawers, painters, sketchers, and doodlers! All professionals, hobbyists and amateurs! Calling everyone with a pencil and a piece of paper!

As I head into the final couple of months of frantic writing and cooking, I am greatly enjoying watching the many elements of my book come together. Even though I often feel overwhelmed with the sheer enormity of this book (I’m not calling it a complete guide for nothing!) and even though the late nights of writing are definitely taking their toll, I feel so positive about this project and am so excited for this fall when I finally get to share all this hard work with all of you.

I have long wanted to include some cartoons in The Paleo Approach. It’s important to me that my book be very visual, in terms of layout and graphics, in terms of medical illustrations to help with the scientific explanations, in terms of my food photography and other photography used throughout the book. I’ve always liked the idea of including some cartoons to help the book feel more casual and approachable, give more visual impact, and just for the fun of it.

I greatly enjoy the little sketches I do for the blog but have realized three things: 1) I am not a cartoonist, 2) I just plain old won’t have the time to draw any cartoons for the book, and 3) I especially won’t have time because I’m not a cartoonist.

But I know that there are tons of talented people out there who would love to contribute to the book!

AND I will send some The Paleo Mom swag to every person whose cartoon gets chosen for the book (heck, I might even send some swag to every one who sends me a cartoon!!)!!

If you are one of them, here is what this competition is all about. Please read carefully.

I am asking you to draw one or more cartoons to be possible illustrations in The Paleo Approach.

Your name and either a website or e-mail address (or neither, if you prefer) will be included as a caption to your illustration(s) if it is chosen (E.g. Illustration by Joe Cartoonist of Joe’s website). You will not be paid for your cartoon. Artwork must be your own and you will be asked to sign a declaration that you are the creator of the artwork, that the artwork is unique, and provide permission for it to be published (you will retain ownership/copyright).

I will select which illustrations I want to include in the book. In the event that I can’t decide between two or more similar cartoons, I may post as a blog post and get my readers to vote for their favorite.

I will endeavor to post all of the entries as a gallery-style blog post or page to share with everyone. Exactly how and when I do this will depend on the number I receive.

Drawings can be black and white, gray-scale or color (and, for example, you can submit the same drawing both as black and white and as full color if you want). Please submit images as jpg (preferred), gif or pdf.

The book is going to be 8.5″x10.75″. It is unlikely that any cartoon will be published as an entire page, but the images should be high enough resolution to allow that flexibility. It is far more likely that the cartoons will be published as 3″x3″ to 3″x4″ so the level of detail in the drawing and size of any writing should be appropriate for that size.

Cartoons should be single illustrations, not comic strip style. They may be square or rectangular.

Please name your file using your last name (you may also include a brief description in the name if you wish).

You can submit as many different cartoons as you would like, even multiple cartoons for the same idea.

You can draw in any style you enjoy or in a style inspired by my sketches for the blog (I don’t have my heart set on stick figures, so no need to be too similar to my style–Actually, I like the idea of having a variety of styles represented). Speech bubbles, thought bubbles, and captions are all acceptable.

At the end of this post is a list of cartoon ideas that I would love to have in the book. Cartoons that meet these descriptions will be the highest priority. But, you may also come up with your own ideas within the theme of the book (diet and lifestyle modifications to manage autoimmune disease), perhaps related to yet slightly different from the ideas below. There is no minimum nor a maximum number of cartoons that I can include. I will simply be picking the ones I like the best, however many that turns out to be.

All cartoons must be submitted by midnight on Sunday, March 24th to be considered.

If you have any questions, comment below (because if you have a question, chances are someone else does too) or e-mail me.

Here is the list of cartoon ideas that would be thematic for the book:

Patient explaining symptoms to doctor, and doctor perplexed. The point: autoimmune disease is hard to diagnose. Symptoms that could be listed on a clipboard: headaches, fatigue, joint aches. Or speech bubble “I’m tired all the time and just don’t feel well.” The point: autoimmune disease is typically difficult to diagnose.

Person trying to choose what to eat. Maybe a slice of bread or cupcake versus a steak or some vegetables. Or choosing between low-fat salad dressing and bacon. The point: this book will teach you what to choose. The point: there’s a lot of misinformation out there about what it healthy.